Teach Me How To Obsess
by PinkMoonRising
Summary: A dangerous game begins when Kaoru catches the attention of a dark minded somebody. Strange things start happening to him and his friends. A scary text message keeps them from running to authorities, they only have each other. And even that isn't enough when death comes looming over them. And there's something fishy about the new boy in town. . .who looks almost exactly like him.
1. Chapter 1

So this is my first ever fanfiction . . . I hope it's not complete poop!:) The plot came randomly to me while I was eating. I always get my best ideas when eating. Now that I got that nit of awkward info out, enjoy! Oh, and I don't own Ouran!:( Sad but true. I'm not brilliant enough to think up something like that.

_Twilight. It was twilight. The most mysterious time of the day in my opinion. It was the time when the creatures of the darkness who skillfully hide during the day in dank, damp places like your basment, the misty canopy of the woods behind your house, and even in your cluttered attic, could come out and play, terrorize the unfourtanate souls who were still awake, too consumed by paranoia to fall into blissful slumber. And only I knew it. I've always known it. Since I was a child I've known of the monsters out there. Cruel, ruthless monsters who feel know waver when they look upon a crying child._

_"Living in the past again? You'll never move forward by doing that. Your mind will never grow into that perfect body of yours." I could hear the grin in the voice. Hot tobacco saturated breath wafted over the skin of my exposed neck, making me shiver in anything but delight._

_I tried to speak but all that came out was a strangled whimper of fear. I couldn't see them. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't even distinguish whether the voice was male or female. All I knew was that it was twilight. I knew it in the deepest parts within me. Being blind didn't stop me from knowing that. _

_"Speaking . . . is overrated. This night will say all of the things that need to be said between us. All of the things you will never say to anyone else. Not while I'm around, over my dead body. Or maybe," the voice chuckled darkly, "over yours."_

_I became aware of a sudden warmth trickling down the front of my throat, running down and soaking through my shirt. I felt no pain, but my mouth still dropped open in a silent scream as I could feel the ground move from underneath my feet and the release of the strangers cold hands from my upper arms as my body inclined forward._

A shrill scream had me jolting out of my warm comfy bed and onto the chilly hardwood floor with a thud. I never regretted moving the plush green rug from beside my bed more than in that moment. I rolled onto my side with a groan as the noise continued to wail. With my hands over my ears, I cast an annoyed look around my dimly lit bedroom to locate the source of the God awful sound. My eyes pausing on the small electronic device perched on my nightstand. Heaving myself up as quickly as I could without falling back down on my ass, I hit the snooze button.

I sighed as silence fell over the room while my head spun from exhaustion. But my peace was short lived. I moaned and threw my arms up, letting my hands hit my legs with a hard slap as my phone blared out the irritating song my best friend had set as her ringtone.

"What?" I growled.

"Oooh, super friendly in the morning!"

"Tamaki?"

"The one and only." I could hear bits and pieces of happy chatter in the background. I felt some serious annoyance at that. No one should ever sound that peppy at the crack of dawn.

I smiled and rolled my eyes at his chipperness. "Not to rain on your parade or anything, but there's a lot of Tamaki's in the world. Why are you calling me off of Haruhi's phone?"

"Aw, boo, Kaoru! And I knew you would never pick up if you knew it was me!"

Damn staright I wouldn't have. But I probably would have gave in at some point. He would have just continued calling and calling . . .He may not have been the brightest crayon in the box, but he was a pro when it came to pushing people to their limit. I laughed as I heard Tamaki's voice further away from the phone screeching a "Shut the hell up! I can't hear! You know Kaoru talks as quiet as a church mouse!"

A hush fell over on the other line and Tamaki came back on. I could imagine him shooting everyone daggers, daring them to even hiccup. "Now where were we?"

"Um, I believe you were going to tell me why you're calling me." I moved into the bathroom, eyeing my tired reflection in the mirror. Deep bruises had blossomed under my slanted chrysochlorous eyes. They'd been there for a while now as a not so kind reminder of the nightmares that happened nightly.

I heard him groan on the other line. "Don't tell me you forgot?"

"Forgot what?"

"I told you he'd forget!" A female voice crowed victoriously, "Pay up, Kyoya!"

I padded back into my room to grab my clothes for the day. "Am I on speaker?"

"Heh. Yeah, sorry," My blonde bimbo of a friend muttered sheepishly.

"No privacy in this group." I held the phone between my ear and shoulder as I dug through my drawer to find my favorite jeans.

"Oh, whatever! _You_ can't possibly be mad at _us_ today! That's our job! We agreed to get coffees this morning!"

I froze, pants in hand. "Oh, yeeaaahh . . ."

"Shyah, stupid! 'Oh, yeeaaahh' is right! We've been waiting out here for twenty minutes! Kyoya and Mei banged on the door for, like, ten minutes straight."

Lurching towards the window, I pulled the dark green satin curtain back to see that Kyoya's parents' black SUV was indeed parked on the side of the street in front of my house. I could see Tamaki's blonde head bobbing around in the passenger seat. "Shit. I'm sorry, guys! I completely forgot!"

I could have sworn I heard Kyoya sigh out a "No shit."

"Thank you, Captain Duh."

"You're welcome, Officer Smart Ass. Just let me get showered and dressed and I'll be right out, okay?"

"Fine, no coffee for us, I guess." Tamaki mumbled. I felt a sharp pain of guilt at how crestfallen he sounded. I was kind of thankful I wasn't there to see his face. The pouty lip and watery puppy eyes would have been the death of me.

"Hurry up, Kao-Chan!" Hunny, the littlest (and oldest) member of our group called before the line cut off. I didn't need to be in the car to know that his ever faithful companion (and cousin) Mori had given a silent nod of agreement.

I rushed through my shower and dressed as fast as I could, falling over multiple times trying to get my jeans on. I didn't have time to spike my hair in its' signature way so I just ran a brush through it a few times and shoved a black beanie onto my still damp head. After arranging my bangs in a flattering way around my face and brushing my teeth in record time, I was flying down the stairs with my backpack now in tow and sweater slung over my arm. I had to remind myself to hang onto the rail of the staircase and watch my feet. Over the years, (and after a few broken bones) I've learned that stairs are no friend to the uncoordinated. And that I was. With a major lack of hand-eye-coordination and long gangly limbs, I should be considered disabled.

Crossing the threshold of the front door, I stopped to tap in the security code to the house alarm. Even from all the way up here, I could hear a cheer erupt from within the SUV as my assholes of friends applauded for my arrival. I turned around with the perfect scowl on my face only to have it replaced with a wide smile at the sight of the goofy, smiley faces of my friends hanging out of the windows of the van. I jogged down the wet leaf strewn sidewalk towards the vehicle that was practically bouncing in place from the bass of the ridiculously loud rap music.

"You made it out of the house in thirteen minutes! Impressive." Tamaki grinned, giving me a double thumbs up. "And Kyo says we can still hit up the coffee!"

I opened the door to the back and climbed in tossing my bag to the floor and squeezed myself in with Hunny, Mori and, Mei next to me and Tamaki, Haruhi, and Kyoya in the front.

Haruhi shifted in her seat between the older boys in the front. "I'm disappointed in you, Kao," She said with a mock pout as Kyoya pulled into the empty street that would soon become populated by groggy buisness people in suits shuffling out to their cars or grabbing the news paper before they headed to work, "How could you ever forget about our plans?"

"It isn't very hard when you've just worked a late shift and stayed up 'til three typing up a five page essay on the Cold War." I yawned for emphasis and rubbed my heavy eyes.

"Damn, that sure is The Suck." Mei eyed the dark rings under my eyes.

"Always empathetic. That's what I love about you, Mei."

She smiled, flashing her recently bleached white teeth. "I've got a lot of lovable qualities. And if there's anybody who knows that, it's Kyoya. Right, baby?" She maneuvered herself out of her seat and wrapped her arms around Kyoya's neck.

"Not now, Mei. I'm driving."

"But, _Kyooooyyyyaaa_-" she whined.

"Not now." he repeated.

I bit my knuckles to keep from snickering at the rejection as Mei fell back into her seat with a 'Hmph'.

I turned my attention to the window. I watched as the rising sun sparkled on dew that clung to the grass of well kept houses and the old women exiting these houses taking their purebreds for walks. Eventually it all just became a blur of color. My eyes looking but not seeing as my mind wandered. Dew . . . damp . . . The air had been damp in my dream. And cold. Like late November. It was October 15th today.

_So that gives me a little over a month . . ._

Until what?

I looked down at my sweater in my lap, my face scrunched in confusuion. What was that supposed to mean? Why did that even pop into my head? Curling my hand around the soft blue fabric of my jumper, I noticed something on the collar of it. I squinted to examine the dark stain closer.

_Is that . . .? _My eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. _No. It can't possibly be . . .blood, can it?_

"Kaoru!"

I looked up into Haruhi's deep brown eyes on the other side of the window. Behind her stood the cozy faded exterior of the coffee shop with bright flowers of all colors in pots placed around and dripping light vines with large bulbs on them that lit up the little shop in the evenings. Now did I not notice us stopping? I glanced around to find that I was the only one left in the car. Hunny and Tamaki were bounding up the steps to the shop with Mori following suit and Kyoya slunk along with his arm slung over Mei's shoulders a few feet behind them. I fumbled with my sweater as I pulled it on. I made sure to tuck the tiny stain away from veiw. Even if it was small, I would feel a little less nauseated knowing it was hidden. I dug through my bag until I felt the smooth leather of my wallet. I took out a wad of cash and shoved it into the pocket of the sweater as I crawled shakily out of the van.

"Are you . . .okay?" She brushed her bangs to the side to stare fixedly at me in that way that she always does when she's trying to get a good read on someone.

"Yeah, m'fine. Why?"

I could tell she didn't believe me by the way she quirked her small pink lips and narrowed her large eyes. My pulse sped up as she surveyed me. Usually I could lie to anyone with ease, but this girl is a whole other story. She _knows _people. When I was no longer able to hold her heavy gaze, I cast my eyes down and scuffed my OSIRISs on the pale cracked sidewalk. I watched a straw wrapper dance across the space between us in the chilly breeze that swept through the trees, carrying more wet leaves down from their almost bare branches.

"You were staring at your sweater like it had just told you that you were going to die today or something."

I lifted my eyes to hers to see her smirking at me with amusement. I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Although, something told me she wasn't completely done with the subject.

I chuckled and secured my beanie. "That would just be crazy. Now come on! Let's go get those lattes!"

"And a chance to irritate the shit out of Kasanova!"

"Obviously! You know I live for that!" I offered her my arm, raising my eye brows up and down.

She giggled but hooked her arm around the crook of mine. "You're a retard!"

:D Tell me whatcha think? Please and thank ya! And if you do like it, I'll go eat some more to think up a good way to present to you chapter two!


	2. Chapter 2

We arrived at Silent Hallows Highschool about fifteen minutes before the first bell. Which gave me enough time to do what I was dared to do and then get the hell out.

"Don't forget what you're supposed to do today, Kaoru." Kyoya tossed me a quick smirk. Tamaki and Hunny giggled, Mei snorted with laughter, Haruhi gave me a sympathetic look, and Mori looked indifferent as usual but I could have sworn I saw a ghost of a smile cross his lips before he opened the door and stepped out. Everyone got out, heading for the nearest trashcan to throw away their half drunk coffees and muffin wrappers except for Tamaki who was still sucking happily on his Italian soda as he tagged along behind Haruhi.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." I grudgingly swung the door open. Mei slid across the seat after me.

"Kao, stand in front of me so I don't flash anyone." Her blue eyes looked pointedly at something over my shoulder. I turned around to to get a quick peak of a group of jocks that were grinning from ear to ear and whooping, thinking that they were going to get a show.

I rolled my eyes and looked back at her. "Why don't you just wear things that are actually considered clothes, then?" I scowled down at her tiny black skirt. "I'm pretty sure a belt would cover more. Besides, I thought you _liked_ that kind of attention."

"I used to. But I don't want Kyo Kyo to get jealous. You know how scary he is when he's mad." She slid out of the car landing on the heels of her black leather over the knee boots. I don't know how she managed to right herself in those death traps. She sighed as a chorus of boos came from the meatheads behind me.

"Well, if you don't want _Kyo Kyo_ to get mad, why do you continue to dress like that?"

"Are you trying to say that I should dress like a nun now just because I have a boyfriend? This is how I like to dress. It's airy." She smacked me in the arm when I shuddered with disgust.

"Fuck you, Hitachiin!" She stuck her tounge out and raised two pink tailoned middle fingers up in the air.

"Right back atcha."

And then Kyoya came up, wrapping his arm protectively around her small waist and whisked her away. All the while sending the iciest look at the jocks who had been eyeing her with lustful, rapist eyes. I couldn't help but smile a little. It took them forever to admit their feelings. Five years to be exact. Yep, even back when Mei was going through her nerdy awkward stage he had still loved her. Now Haruhi and Tamaki were the new Mei and Kyoya in our little group.

As her ex-boyfriend, you would think it would be hard for me to see her give Tamaki the lovey dovey eyes on practically a daily basis. But in all honesty I was just happy for her. Happy that she had found someone so utterly perfect for her. True, they were polar opposites. He was kind of stupid and extremely frustrating and she was intelligent and calm, but they evened each other out. In fact, he was the reason we broke up, though, he definately doesn't know that and neither of us have the intention of telling him that. I had always figured she held feelings for him that were beyond the friendly facade they put on so I just let the chips fall where they may. Most would say I was a coward for just letting her go like that but I don't think that's the case. If it made her happy, then that's all that's important. Even if it meant having to nurse a broken heart. I would always love her, that much I knew, but we just weren't meant to be and I was finally coming to terms with that.

"Tama, come on! We have to get the best seats in the house for this one!" Haruhi was dragging a very preoccupied Tamaki by the hand as he intensley slurpped his drink. Haruhi sent me a wink as they ran into the school.

I adjusted my bag on my shoulder, sighing. She was talking about the dare, of course. The past weekend, we'd all slept over at Kyoya's house given that his parents had been out of town for a wedding. And like every normal teenage sleepover, we had played Truth or Dare. Mei had apparently felt a little cruel that night. I had immediately regretted my choice when that evil grin grew across her tanned and polished face, the grin that Kyoya adored so much along with her manical cackle. I wished at that moment that I had picked truth, but who's to say that would have been any better? I was screwed either way. Anyway, she had dared me to do the stupidest thing any highschool student could ever do.

She dared me to hit on a teacher.

But not just any teacher. Oh no. That would have been merciful. And Mei was anything but merciful. She dared me to hit on the meanest, strictest principal in the history of the world; Mr. Showd. The guy would give you a detention for breathing the wrong way, I swear. I heard that a kid had tried to tell him a joke and he punched the kid in the face. I'm pretty sure it was an innocent knock-knock joke too!

Evidently word had gotten out about my intentions for the day. People laughed and even offered me knuckle bumps on my way in. Mei and her stupid big mouth.

I headed to my locker first to dump my shit off and then get this cruel punishment over with. It would just get in my way because it was always an inconvience to sit in the principal's office with your bag full of heavy books. Believe me I knew a thing or two about that. Let's just say that my dares are almost always school related. . . And yet I still play the game. Who's a dipshit? This guy right here. Besides, a bulky bag might weigh down my sex-o-meter. Yeah, I can see it now;

_"Oh, Mr. Showd! Or can I call you . . . _William_?_

_Deciding that this was a good chance for him to explore the homosexual feelings he's always secretly had and tried to contain out of fear that his abuse father would find out, he blushes and nods._

_"Greeeeeaaaaattt," I drawl out the word, using a Southern Belle accent just for the hell of it, "Now I was just-"_

_I had moved to turn gracefully and perch myself atop his desk, knocking all pictures of his wife and children off, giving the smiling photos a good veiw of he floor, but my bag had gotten in the way and whacked him right in the family jewels._

_"You're . . .expelled . . ." he manages to choke out between gasps of pain as he falls to his knees holding the injured area while a red faced me stands there innocently swinging his bag._

Yep, that's how it would go. But let's be fo' real here; I'm getting expelled no matter what. Even if my flirting works, I'll mess it up some way or another.

After throwing my stuff in my locker, I headed for the teachers' lounge on the second floor where everyone knew Mr. Showd was at this time in the morning.

"Hey!" A voice called behind me. I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. The clincking of the chains was enough to know that I would find Umehito Nekozawa, the creepiest goth in the whole school, jogging up behind me. He was in his usual apparel; heavy metal shirt, baggy Tripp Jeans with multiple chains jingling against one another, heavy shiney black boots, and numerous silver bone-like bracelets, neckalces, peircings, and rings.

"Hey, Nekozawa." I greeted wearily.

It wasn't like him to talk to anyone outside of his cult groupies. Unless he was recruiting. If that's the case, I'm not too sure why he would think that I'd be into praying to the devil and killing children.

"I heard that you're gonna try to fuck a teacher, that true?" He pushed a piece of chin length blonde hair out of his face.

"No, uh, actually I got dared to hit on a teacher. Nothing sexual." Where's holy water when you need it? I resisted a smile as I imagined myself squirting him with a water gun straight to the face amd then laughing wildly as he melts down to the floor, leaving nothing but a puddle of goo and ugly clothes.

"Oh . . . Then who're you fucking?"

Sweet baby Jesus! What is wrong with this guy? "No one."

"Huh." He nodded, looking slightly disappointed as he played with his snake bites.

"Yeah . . . So I better be on my way now."

I turned on my heel, prepared to sprint to a safe, more populated area of the school as soon as I turned the corner. But I guess this was just a day of folly for me.

"Wait, I'll walk with ya! You're going to do your dare, right?"

I didn't even turn around as I mumbled out an "Uh huh."

"Cool."

We began making our way to the teacher's lounge in silence. My eyes darted to him out of paranoia every few seconds as I walked tensely readying mysel for the worst just in case he attacked me and tried to take my heart out and eat it.

We climbed the billions of boring sand colored stairs and turned the last corner. I could see my friends at the other end of the hall along with a good sized group of students who obviously wanted to see the show. I felt a hand on my shoulder. Nearly peeing myself, I flinched away from the touch.

"Sorry! It's just that . . . I wanted to walk with you to tell you something." Nekozawa spoke slowly as if I was mentally retarded. So not only did he invade my personal space, but he also implied that I'm a bit off in the head. Pssshht. Molest and then insult? Yeah, that'll get you places, Nekozawa. More specifically, _that'll_ get you into the bedroom.

"Oh. That's nice. You couldn't have said something to me during the exruciatingly long silence between us as my legs burned from walking up those friggin' stairs and I nearly had an asthma attack?" It was true. We had to pause on the third staircase when Nekozawa saw my face. I wonder what gave him away, the heavy wheezing or the crimson face or maybe even when I gasped out "Can we please stop?! I think I'm about to pass out from low oxygen!"

"Well . . . it's just that you won't believe me."

I glanced down the hall at my friends whose eyes were now darting between me and my company curiously. I saw Haruhi murmmer something to the group and felt a pang of agitation. Now how would I explain arriving with Mr. Sacrafice A Virgin?

"Get on with it, Nekozawa. I have something to do."

"Alright," he breathed out a rather shaky breath. Maybe he had asthma too? "Look, there's some bad mojo around you. I-okay, _we- _have noticed it the last few weeks. We're pretty sure you're in some kind of danger because of . . . _somebody_." he said lowly.

My mind went completely blank. The only thing I could do was stare at him with my mouth hanging open. But luckily the drool stayed inside my mouth. That was a bad habit I finally kicked when I had been out to dinner with my parents and their richer-than-fuck coworker and his wife. While they were talking about golf or anthropology or some other dull adult thing, I had sat and stared out the window with a little string of dribble sliding down my chin and onto the table. The couple treated me like a handicapped person for the rest of the night while my parents threw me disbelieveing looks. Is it so uncommon to still be a teenager and drool a little? Tamaki does it all the time but you don't see _his_ Dad bitching at him about it, do you? But back to the present here.

When my mind had started reving back up, I was able to see the situation for what it was. And I suddenly had the compulsion to rip the metal right out of his nostrils. No way was he doing this right now. No way was he using his so called 'powers' to try and scare me. Most of the students he makes predictions for run away screaming being that he only tells them of unfourtanate things like when their parents will die or if they'll get cancer. He's a real ray sunshine if you couldn't tell.

"Well? Say something!" He'd been twisting one of his rings (which eerily resembled a skeletal finger) around his own long pale finger. I could tell he was expecting me to scream, whimper or piss myself. Or all three. But he wouldn't get that kind of satisfaction from me.

"How stupid do you think I am?" I asked bluntly, putting my hands on my hips and giving him my best Mei attitude.

Confusion swam in his charcoal lined eyes as he paused his ring twisting. "What do you mean, Kaoru?"

"Look, I know that scaring the living daylights out of people gives you, like, some kind of demented orgasm," His quizzical expression only deepened, "but, uh, I'm not buying your shit. Sorry to disappoint. This isn't funny, telling people things like that isn't funny. It's just sick. So go do me a favor; go screw yourself and leave me alone. _Or_ we'll see just how useful your _black magic,_" I sneered, "is against my fist colliding with your face. Do we have an understanding?"

Before he could even reply by yelling something about me being the devil's bitch one day, I was walking swiftly towards the crowd with a new feeling of determination. Maybe being expelled wouldn't be so bad if it got me out of this nut house of a school.

"Go get 'em," Tamaki whispered encouragingly as I reached the handle to the teachers' lounge where Mr. Showd was every morning, eating donuts or, from what I've heard, Mrs. Stanely, the seventy-something-year-old librarian.

I only got a split second to think over what I was doing before it happened. Whoring myself off to a teacher, possibly getting kicked out of school, and now I would probably have to stop going out at night by myself since I sassed Nekozawa and made fun of his black magic. Could things get worse than this? My hand brushed the steel of the door handle when it swung back out of my reach and I was suddenly hit with a strong scent of tobacco and a slightly musky smell. Like cologne old men who tell war stories to their teenaged grandkids who don't give a lovely fuck would wear. My breath hitched as I looked up the length of him, taking in his shiney dress shoes to his dark impeccable clothes until finally I met the blackest eyes I had ever seen. And they stared back at me with wonder and something else I couldn't quite put my finger on. Something that sent cold chills through me, seemingly hitting every bone and and making every organ tighten. The unexplained fear coursed through my now unmovable body, ricocheting off of every nerve within me. And there was pain. An intense breathtaking pain that hit me in the heart. If I hadn't been immobolized, I think I would have fallen backwards with the magnitude of it.

Through the pain, I was faintly aware of a voice that seemed to echo all around in my mind. It was quiet first, a tiny whisper in the back of my head, then it grew louder, shouting at me. It blocked out all other thoughts like a wall, making it so hard to concentrate on anything besides the voice, pain, and those black holes of eyes.

_Now are you going to listen to me?!_

Slowly, I turned my head to look back down the hallway. Nekozawa gave me one last unreadable stare before shoving his hands in his pockets and slouching around the corner and out of sight.


	3. Chapter 3

_It's strange. Usually I lose intrest in stories after, like, the first two chapters (no joke, I have the attention span of a gnat) but I don't think I'm going to get tired of this one. Anyhoo, thanks for the reviews. They're much appreciated. And I'm glad that I've gotten a little bit of positive feedback:) So without further ado, here is chapter three!_

"S-sorry! I, uh, d-didn't mean to-I mean, I, um-"

"Hey," The man chuckled, a friendly, wholehearted sound and put his hands up to me, "It's fine! I didn't know you were there! Sorry about that."

My excuse for why I was hanging out around the teacher's 'Screw Around Room', as Kyoya put it, had slid back down my throat and faded from my memory when he had looked directly into my face. He gazed down at me with a strange coolness that almost seemed unnatural.

When I didn't say anything, he continued calmly. "Although, _you_ were the one hovering in front of the door. So it can't really be all my fault, can it?" he arched a brow at me. Cool, dark, and almost like an X-ray, his eyes flicked up and down, taking a quick survey of me.

"I just . . ." What was it that I wanted? Why had I come here? What was I supposed to be doing? I heard someone clear their throat behind me. Suddenly remembering that other people were there, I looked back to see my friend's quizzical expressions.

_What're you doing? You act like you're seeing the dead! Say something back!_

I crossed my arms in front of my chest, stared down at the floor, and gave a poor attempt at and explanation. "I wanted to talk to Mr. Showd." I whispered.

"I'm sorry, what did you say? I didn't catch that." He tried to duck into my line of vision but I continued refusing to look at him.

I cleared my throat. "I said I want to speak to Mr. Showd." My voice didn't come out much stronger than last time but he seemed to hear me.

"Oh! Well, I'll just get him for you, then!"

"Thanks."

I shifted my weight and stood there for an immeasurable amount of time waiting for him to make a move, to call Mr. Showd over or something, but he didn't. Slightly confused, I peeked up at him from under my lashes to find him grinning down at me. His grin grew into a large smile when my eyes met his. The way his sparkled when he smiled made my skin crawl. For another long moment we just stood there like that. Him, smiling down at me with that glint in his eyes and me, standing there and staring at him in bewilderment.

He suddenly looked quite satisfied with something and moved to turn away from me. "Well, I suppose I'll just get him for you." He slammed the heavy door in my face. Though I knew it was coming, I still flinched when it shut and an echoing bang sounded through the hall.

My friends expressions would have been quite comical had I not been so utterly perplexed and disturbed about the whole situation.

"He's weird," Tamaki murmmered.

"Yeah . . . He sure is a strange one, isn't he?" I looked to Kyoya who was giving the door the man had disappeared behind a hard stare.

"What is it, Kyoya?" I asked

But he only had time to show me a hint of worry embedded in his dark eyes before the door flew open again, revealing the same smiling man and a disgruntled Mr. Showd with white donut powder on his chin.

He narrowed his beady eyes. "Oh. It's _you_. Just when I thought my Monday coulnd't get any worse."

"Good morning, Mr. Showd." I said pleasantly.

"Spare me the pleasantries, Hitachiin. What do you want? And why're you all loittering around in the hallway?" he snapped at the crowd. I watched as kids seemed to have a new found urge to get to class on time. All except for my friends, of course.

"That means you, too!" he barked.

No one moved. Kyoya's and Mei's mouths had curled up into matching amused smirks, Hunny stared off into space boredly, Mori stared back at him defiantly, Haruhi stayed somber, and Tamaki stood cross eyed with his tounge poked out to annoy him. Aw, gotta love my loyal friends. But if they didn't leave, there was a chance they would end up in Mr. Showd's office with me. And the last things I needed was them snickering like hyenas as I attempted to seduce him.

"It's okay, guys! Go on to class! I'm just going to talk to our . . . lovely," I nearly gagged on the word, "principal for a moment. So go! Shoo, shoo!" I waved them away with a cheerful smile.

I heard a sharp intake of breath. And apparently I wasn't the only one. Mr. Showd was watching the strange man who had interrupted his donut eating with furrowed eyebrows. The man seemed to realize that all eyes were on him and turned a shade of red. Mumbling out an apology he retreated back further into the lounge.

"_Anyway_," I waved my hand at my friends again, "Go. You'll be late!"

"Go or I'll give you detentions every Friday for the next three months." Showd warned.

With dejected faces they finally began slinking away, throwing random disappointed grumbles over their shoulders. We had things to do on Fridays. They couldn't afford to get detentions. Not that they would actually go, anyways, but that would just cause even more trouble.

"Now, just what is it that you want?" The old wart questioned once the group had disappeared around the corner.

Sighing internally, I put on my most coy grin. Fuck going to his office. Offices are for whimps. "Oh, there's a lot of things I want." I moved a smidge closer to him, hands folded innocently behind my back, "But I can sum it up for you in one little word."

I tried to keep my disgust hidden, for now I was pressed up against him. And I'll tell you now that it's no fun being squished up against some fat man's chubby belly.

"Do you want to know what that word is?" I nearly lost it when his eyes widened and sweat broke out on his large, greasy forehead.

"W-what?"

"The word," I grabbed his sailboat patterned tie, "is 'you'." Roughly, I tugged at the tie to bring his fat, sweaty face closer to my own.

"_What is this?_" A growl came from behind him. But being the big man Showd is, I couldn't see his face. Then again, I didn't have to to know that he was completely repulsed. I was too.

Mr. Showd yanked my hand away from his tie and jumped at least five feet from me. "Oh, uh, Matt, that wasn't what you think," he chuckled nervously and readjusted his tie, "He came on to me! Probably a dare the little delinquint got! I bet those friends of his are the ones behind this inappropriate display of flirtacious-"

I don't think I had ever seen a scarier face than his. Not even Kyoya's compared to this man's murderous stare. It wasn't even aimed at me and I was trembling in place. Sucks to be Showd. "Don't blame the student. It's obvious you must have some how manipulated him into doing something like that. What did you do? Threaten him? Blackmail him?"

Showd let out a string of noises that I'm assuming were supposed to make sense and create a sentence but actually did neither.

"When I came to work here, Showd," he continued, "I came because I thought I would be under the employment of an honorable man. But now I see that I was wrong. Oh so very wrong. I see now what a sick, sick person you are. Trying to control and twist the mind of an innocent child so that you can get off on making your perverted fantasies come true. And it really makes me wonder, how many others have you done this to?"

Mr. Showd apparently got a little bit of his voice back, giving him a slightly weak disbelieving look. "He's not innocent. And he's not a child either. If only you knew . . ." His fishy eyes flashed to me, obviously thinking about all the times I had been in his office. All of the vandalization, foul mouthedness, loittering, and crude things I had done in the past. I had to say, though, this tops all of that. "He's in my office nearly every week-"

"I don't care _what_ he's done in the past. You don't have a right to do acts like this. And he is a child. They're all children still. And ogers like you are what's ruining them today, corrupting them. I think I should have a sit down with the Board of Education. What do you think? Since it seems the school is in danger of a pedophilia scandal."

Blown away by his words, both Showd and I stood with shocked faces. But two different types of shocked. While he seemed so fearful and humiliated, I grinned from ear to ear. Getting Showd fired? _And _accused of being a child molesting blackmailer?

Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.

I strode smugly into class about twenty minutes late. I know what you're thinking; did all of that back at the teacher's lounge really take up a whole twenty minutes? Nope. I walked around the school at least six times, playing out different scenarios in my head of Showd being taken out of the school in handcuffs by burly poliemen named Hank and Stanely (you can't tell me that those don't sound like cop names). I imagined him in one crying . . . Okay, well, he was crying in all of them at some point because, you know, who wouldn't want to see a middle-aged pudgy man sob? Anyway, they were all really good thoughts and they made me smile. I thought up so many that I figured one of them were bound to be close to what would really happen. And if, by some mere chance, it goes down in a way I haven't thought of, I just hope he cries. If I get nothing else in life, I will at least have that.

"Thank you for taking your time getting here, Hitachiin." Mrs. Wetherly gave me a hard stare from behind her emerald green reading glasses when I flounced into English.

"Welcome." I waved it off as if irritating her was my pleasure.

She rolled her eyes and went back to reading out of her book in a monotonous voice. She didn't even bother to argue with me anyomore. Which saddens me a bit because our fights were really something, you know? It's why I got up in the morning. Just to go to English and get in quarrels with old Mrs. Wetherly.

I walked back slowly (much to the annoyance of my Fight Buddy aka Mrs. Wetherly) to my seat at the very back right next to Haruhi. She grinned lazily at me, resting her chin in her palm.

"Got a date latter on with the dashing Showd, do you?"

"Nope. Our little rendezvous was cut short." I whispered back.

"Why? Did he threaten to get a restraining order?"

I snorted. "Even better. That weird guy who answered the door back there overheard and accused him of being a pedophile."

Her already large brown eyes grew enormous. "Seriously? That's funny."

"Yeah, I know." I shook as laughter over took me. I thought I got rid of those laughs out in the hallway when I was thinking about Showd the Toad getting taken away in a police car. But this wasn't something you could just laugh out within twenty minutes. Oh no,this deserved a whole day to itself. "Wouldn't it be so funny if Showd got," I gasped for air, still laughing, "i-if he got, ha ha ha, ar-r-rested? He he!"

Her thin brows pulled down over her eyes."But you could get into a lot of trouble if they find out you were ly-"

The class phone cut through our conversation and Mrs. Wetherly's speech on how today's literature is garbage and how writers back in the eighteen hundreds would roll over in their graves if they found out what these so called "talented people" were slopping down and throwing into books now.

"Yes?" Wetherly said curtly into the phone.

I prayed to God that it wasn't for me. I already saw enough of Showd today without getting called down to his office.

She nodded slowly. "Alright, alright. A little last minute, but yeah, okay."

Without so much as a "goodbye" to the nice office lady, Wetherly hung up the phone and looked with narrowed at the students.

"Well, it seems that we'll be getting a new student in today. It would have been nice to be informed of this beforehand . . . But what am _I_ saying? There's no organization in this school what so ever!"

"Bet it's another foreigner." Haruhi murmered.

They weren't uncommon. We were like friggin' Foreigners R Us or something. You name 'em, we got 'em. French, Italian, African, Korean, Bulgarian, Russian, Chinese. . . The list goes on. I was at one time the new foreigner. I had moved here to Silent Hallows, Maine from Tokyo, Japan when I was six. I don't really remeber much of Japan since I was still small when we moved. The clearest memory I actually have from there, was sitting under the newly blossomed cherry trees in the spring with my grandmother. The memory was from when I was four and just right before she had died of a stroke. Mom said we had been very close, but, again, I was very little when she died. So memories of spending time with her were very murky.

Anyway, the same goes for the rest of my friends. We had all either moved from Japan or in Haruhi's case, had roots in Japan but had never actually been there. That's how we kind of became friends. At this school, people tended to keep within their own ethnic groups. You just had more in common.

"So, I suppose this kid is coming down now-"

She was interrupted by the door quietly opening. The class waited with baited breath. Probably betting in there heads where this one could have come from. Uninterested, I glanced out the window at the gloomy white sky. Besides, it was kind of considerite not to gawk at me people and make their first day even harder. I heard two pats of a pair of shoes hit the cold while tiled floor of the classroom as the newcomer came in.

I heard a low gasp escape the girl beside me. "My God, Kaoru. He looks almost exactly like you."

I whipped my head around so fast I gave myself a crick in my neck. I felt the breath escape me as I l looked at what Haruhi meant. And she was right. There, making his way to Mrs. Wetherly, stood my almost perfect mirror image.

"Class, this is Hikaru Parker. Your new classmate from, as I was told, New York City."

_Oh, Gasp!:O Because you totally didn't see that coming! Yeah, things might finally start getting interesting. We can only hope, no? So I hope you liiiiiiiiiiiike!:D_

_Kyoya: I didn't . . ._

_Just up, glasses! No one asked for your two cents!_

_REVIEW!:D_


	4. Chapter 4

_Well, here be chappie four! And it doesn't seem Kao is very happy with this new found discovery. Hmm...What will the next chapter hold? And thanks again for reviews! They give me warm fuzzy feelings!:3 Kind of like when you pet a small cat...only better. Yeah, it's that intense._

Literally, the only thing I could do was gape at him in horror. What else could I do? Run up to him like a lost child who just found his mother and scream "You're my twin! My twin!"?

I don't think so.

And when I say 'twin', I don't mean that we look a little alike, I mean that we look _exactly _alike. Except for the hair. His was dyed jet black and looked unnaturally glossy and was carefully gelled into _my_ spikey style. He was tall and lean, just like me. But he was _so_ New York. From his head to his toes to his walk to his obviously bloated ego. The guy reeked of cockiness. And the obvious stares of interest from the girls didn't help bring him back down to Earth at all.

With his heavy metal shirt flashing out from beneath his black blazer, gray tight skinny jeans, and worn converses he stuck out like a sore thumb. Not many people dressed like that, besides Nekozawa's cult. Although, at least this guy looked well-groomed. While the cult members on the other hand, they looked (and smelled) as if they had never heard of soap.

Him and I were _not_ going to get along. I could already tell just by watching that easy assholeish smile was spreading across his face. We had absolutely _nothing_ in common besides our looks.

Oh, and we both bathe. But other than that we have _nothing_ in common!

The air headed girls that made up our class began to come out of their love stupors, along with everyone else, at last and all turned slowly to look back at me and then at _him_ . . . then me . . . then_ him_ . . . And it went like that for what seemed like a century. Everyone seemed to be just as confused as me. Good to know I wasn't alone in this mind-boggling nightmare!

"You're Mrs. Wetherly." His voice was smooth and sure, deeper than my own.

"Uh, w-well," her eyes flashed quickly between the two of us, "yes. Uh . . . um . . ."

"Here. The woman in the office said you had to sign this." He shoved the paper towards her without even looking at her,"Where do I sit?"

"Um . . . Next to Jane. Jane raise your hand for him."

The mousy brunette rose a shaking hand, seeming like she would faint at any second. He smirked at what I'm sure was the girl's reaction. What an asshole. Mrs. Wetherly shoved the papers back into Hikaru's hand.

"Jane!" He showed a set of pearly whites, identical to mine, "I don't know if I'll be able to concentrate on what you're teaching, Mrs. Wetherly. I mean, how _can_ I with such a pretty girl sitting next to me?"

Jane squealed like a moron and then slumped in her seat a disgrace to women everywhere. The other girls glared at her limp form with envy and the guys just stared on with bewilderment. Haruhi and I exchanged similiar WTF looks. Did the girls really find him _that_ charming already? I knew most Silent Hallow girls were easy, but this was just a whole new level.

Butt face Hikaru began strutting down the aisle, looking extremely self-satisfied. Until he caught sight of me. His arrogant face fell into a mask of surprise as his eyes, so much like mine, roamed over me. Mine did the same, though, I had already gotten a good eye full with all the staring I had done. But no matter how much I looked at him, I just couldn't get over it. How was this possible? To be almost identical to someone who you aren't even related to?

_Or are we?_

Before I could even consider the possibility further, something flashed within his eyes. Something unexpeced that I couldn't quite place. It was quick and probably not something most people would have noticed, but I saw it. It was there. And it made me even more frustrated than I already was. All eyes were flicking between us like we were going to lunge at each other at any moment. The flustered feeling made my face heat up and my hands tightened into fists. That didn't go unnoticed by him.

Now recovered from the shock, he managed to flash me a quick taunting grin before taking his seat next to a still passed out Jane. I watched him relax into the seat, leaning it on it's back legs. The squeaking protests of the chair legs filled the awkward silence as he sat there, rocking. Unaware of the strong feeling of uncomfort in the classroom, the kind that makes you want to shoot yourself in the foot.

Wetherly cleared her throat, wiping her sweatered arm under her nose. "So, yeah, anyway . . ."

Never have I sat through a more tense thirty minutes than that. I tried my best to pretend that I was deaf to the whispers and that I didn't notice how the other students kept shifting in their seats to get a not so subtle look at me or Hikaru. I also pretended that I didn't see Hikaru glancing back at me with clear amusement. And I certainly didn't dare look at Haruhi, who was staring at me through the whole class, biting her thumb nail.

Every time he glanced back at me that with that_ smile_, I felt infuriation bubble up inside me. With every movement of his raven black head, every gleam of his white teeth as they were caught in the fluorescent light just made me want to walk over there and kick the back legs of his chair right out from under him and stop that incessant creaking as he rocked back and forth. And that was bizzare. I never thought I was a person who could dislike someone so much with the little knowledge I had of them. But I suppose there's a first time for everything, right?

When the bell rang, I jumped out of my seat so fast that I knocked it to the floor. I didn't bother to pick it up, instead I just dagged my best friend out of the classroom and to the nearest staff bathroom. I pushed past irrtable students, ignoring their angry shouts at the back of our heads as they stoopedto pick up the books and papers I had smacked out of their hands.

"Hey!" That smooth, satin voice called from behind us. My heartbeat spiked and I pumped my legs faster, feeling Haruhi's hand slip a little as she struggled to keep up.

"Kaoru!" she protested as I locked the door of the bathroom I had thrown her into, "We'll get in trouble being in here!"

I gazed back at her in disbelief, breathing heavily from our little jog through the school. "Um, apparently you don't realize that we already _are_ in big trouble."

"What do you mean? That boy-"

I held up a hand for her to be quiet. "Haruhi . . . He looks just like me. _Just like me_. Besides the hair, of course. But anyone could tell it was dyed! I bet we also have the same hair color!"

"Okay, I agree that it's weird. But-"

"No! Just listen."

I regretted my harsh tone when she turned her dark eyes to the ground and pressed her lips into a tight line. Sighing, I closed the small distance between us and placed my hands gently on her tiny shoulders.

"Sorry. It's just that I'm kind of freaking our right now. It's just that . . . I'm sure you would be going a little crazy if you found your photocopy, too. I . . . I don't know. There's just something that I really don't like about him."

"Something that you don't like about him? Kaoru, you haven't even talked to him. How can you not like him so quickly?"

"You saw him! You saw the way he strutted around! He's got such a cocky demeanor!"

She crossed her slender arms over her chest. "Yeah, he kind of reminds me of you in that way."

I gasped, a little miffed. "Excuse me? I don't act anything like that."

"You do sometimes. But he's worse."

"Oh, well as long as I'm not like him _completely_." I let the sarcasm seep into my voice as I lent over the sink, feeling a bit sick.

"You aren't. But . . . I think you're overreacting."

I splashed cool water on my face as an excuse to keep my head down so she wouldn't see the daggers I wanted so badly to shoot her. She didn't understand. She didn't feel the unexplainable anger I felt towards this _Hikaru Parker_. Maybe if she was in my shoes for a moment-no, a mere second- she would know how much I _really_ didn't want anything to do with him.

The first bell sounded, giving us a warning.

"Come one, let's get to Physical Sience." She handed me a paper towel to dry my face and then tugged me out of the bathroom.

Thankfully, no teachers were in the hallway to see us coming out. A few students lingering in the hallway cast us odd, questioning looks, but said nothing to us.

"Wonder what they were doing in there," a girl mumered to her friends.

I heard Haruhi snort quietly as she continued to pull me by my sleeve.

"Well, there's a new rumor that will be going around," She said bitterly and mostly to herself.

"Doesn't matter." I responded softly.

So far this day sucked balls. Big monkey balls. And it only got worse once we walked into science to find a head of dark hair positioned behind the desk, pausing his count of absences when we walked in. He smiled that same strange, gut clenching smile he had given me back at the teacher's lounge.

"Nice of you to join. Since you thought doing God-knows-what at God-knows-where was better than being in class on time, I'll fill you in a little. I'm your substitute for the next few weeks until your usual teacher is healed up from the accident. My name is Mr. Parker, but you can go right ahead and call me Matt."

"Parker? Hikaru . . ."

"Ah, you've met my son, then, have you?"


	5. Chapter 5

_For those of you who asked questions in your reviews, all will be explained at some point in time. You just gotta be patient;D I'm so mean for only giving you that as an answer, but oh well!_

I felt my face flush. Did I really just say that out loud?

"Uh, yeah, he's in our first period. He seems . . . interesting." Haruhi said slowly.

"_That _I agree with. Well, take a seat." He waved his hand toward the practically full classroom.

He didn't take his eyes off me once. Those dark vortexes followed my every move, making me feel a little on edge, just like they did back at the lounge. What was there to stare at? Did I have something on my face that no one told me about? It wouldn't be surprising. That happened often when you have friends that _like_ your humiliation. But when I washed my face off, there was nothing there . . . We made our way to the middle of the room, trying not to trip over the books people had oh so considerately put in the aisle, where our desks were, side by side.

Matt pursed his lips and peeked down at the attendance sheet in his hand. "You're . . . Haruhi Fujioka . . . and Kaoru Hitachiin, yeah?"

We nodded.

"That's Japanese, right?" Though the question was meant for the both of us, he only kept his stare on me.

"Um, yes . . ." My throat dried as I tried to swallow my saliva in hopes that it would return the moist feeling to my mouth.

"Are you from there?"

"Well, I've never been, but Kaoru lived there until he was six." Out of habit, she began to pick at her fingernails.

His dark never ending holes seemed to lose focus on me. Seeing but not really seeing, like he was caugh up in some far away daydream. A small smile formed on his lips as he wandered off to God knows where. At this point, even the other students were becoming slightly ill at ease, exchanging raised brow looks with one another. I squirmed a little in my seat as that gnawing feeling of uncomfort creeped over me once again. I could feel my palms turn slick with sweat and I cast my eyes down to the desk, unable to keep my gaze steadily on him.

"My son's mother was Japanese . . ." My head snapped up at his almost inaudible murmer. There was a deep foresaken pain in him. I could see it as my gaze bore into his. I could almost feel the sorrow, regret, and anger that swam around within him. The raw intensity of it all stunned me. I didn't think black could ever hold such a colorful array of emotions. It was all so odd and suffocating at the same time. Like there was no where else to go to get away from these feelings, just to embrace the almost unbearable agony. _His_ agony. For a moent I was stuck there in his world of misery until I felt like I couldn't breathe. Like my lungs were collapsing in on themselves.

"_Was_?" Her voice finally pulled me out of the ocean of overwhelming feelings that his eyes tangled me in.

And just like that all of those feelings were hidden again. A wall seemed to go back up and the flatness was back as he turned to Haruhi with a coldness that I was genuinely surprised didn't give the whole of them room frostbite. "She died. But I suppose there's no point in reliving those memories, you know? Let's get on with today's lesson. Open your books to three seventy five."

There was a rustling as people took out their books, quietly chatting to each other. Neither Haruhi nor I made a move to get ours out. I was still too shaken up from . . . whatever that was. How had I done that? It was almost as if I had tapped into his emotions . . . That doesn't make sense but that's how it had felt. Rubbing my temples, I sighed tiredly and finally decided it was time to get my book out. I noticed that Haruhi was still in the same position , both hands pressed to the black top of the table and eye brows scrunched together in thought.

"What? Aren't you going to get your book out?" I gave her a slight nudge.

She shook her head. "Yeah. I was just thinking."

I eyed her as I heaved my heavy Physical Science book onto the table. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Everything's fine. I'm just not . . . with it today, I guess."

Before I could ask her what that was supposed to mean, Matt's deep voice caught the classes attention, "Alright, we'll be doing an experiment so break up into parteners. If there's too much chatter, I will split you up and put you with someone of my choice. So just keep the noise level down."

There was a few whoops of excitment as people trotted on over to their friend's work areas, immediately chatting happily about anything but science.

"Oh, and Kaoru?"

Hesitantly, I looked up to see him, once again, observing me intently.

"You _do_ look extraordinarily like Hikaru." He cocked his head to the side with bemusement, "I wonder why that is."

"That guy gives me the creeps."

We made our way through the damp courtyard. Leaves of red, gold, and orange swirled around us as a breeze swept through the stone square. A few kids were gathering small hills of the crunchy leaves to throw theselves into while others were trying to _avoid _getting thrown into them against their will. I cast my eyes up to the sky, frowning as a depressing grayish white loomed above us. A felt a few chilly droplets of rain slide down my face.

"Yeah, you're telling me. At least he didn't stare at you through the whole class."

"Well, that's probably because you look like his son."

"Do normal people usually stare at their kids in _that_ way?"

"What, the creepy 'Come here little boy, I've got candy' kind of way? No they don't."

"Exactly." I opened the glass door for her. A sudden burst of warmth hit us, making us both shiver as we adjusted to the pleasant feel of the heaters.

"So tell me again why you don't like his son?"

I shifted my load of books up higher . "I don't like either of them." I mumbled. "Doesn't matter if that guy gets Showd fired or not. I would rather get ripped a new ass than be under his creepy stare any day. I made up my mind with that back in science."

We stopped at her history class stunningly earlier than normal. She held her delicate hands out for her textbooks. I handed over what felt like an extra twenty pounds.

"Why? Because he's from big bad New York?" She plucked out a dead leaf that had been tangled in her hair from the brisk wind outside.

I sighed and clutched my books tighter to me. What could I tell her? There really wasn't much of a way to explain it.

"Well? I'm waiting."

"Intuition."

She blinked slowly, cocking her head to the side. "What?"

"Intuition." I repeated, but it didn't seem to become any clearer to her. "It's telling me not to trust him. I _felt _it with him. I _felt_ it with his son. Something tells me not to trust them. Their _those_ kind of people."

"_What _kind of people precisely?"

"You know, the kind in the books! A family moves to some small mediocre town and they seem pretty normal, but they're actually carrying some big deadly secret!"

" . . . You read too much. You're starting to confuse fiction with reality."

"I'm serious!" I yelled. Kids passing by to get to their classes stared at me oddly, giggling behind their hands.

Haurhi kept her voice and gaze even as she thought for a moment. "So am I. I'm just saying that-"

"Forget it." I snapped, "I have to get going or I'll be late for gym."

"Kaoru, wait!" I ignored her call and stormed off to my next class, shoulder bumping anyone who got in my way and not listening as they hollered curses at me.

So that's just great. I had no one on my side. Not even my best friend. There was something off about them! I couldn't quite put my finger on it but I was right. I knew I was, I just didn't have anyway to prove it yet. But I was completely sure that, based on how Hikaru acts, people would start seeing him for the ass he was. Give it a couple weeks and he and his father would be old news, left in the dust and just another addition to Silent Hallows.

_You're wrong._

"No I'm not." I muttered back to the voice.

_They came here for a reason._

"Well, yeah, everyone moves for a reas-"

I held in a groan. Seriously? Now I was _talking_ to myself? No wonder Haruhi had been giving me weird looks all day. Maybe I was just off my rocker. Maybe that's why I was feeling so paranoid since I first had my encounter with Mr. Par-I mean, Matt. Yeah, that had to be it! Everything is the same here as it was before, it's just me losing my sanity!

_Then again, I haven't been getting much sleep lately either . . . So that's probably effecting me too. Maybe I should visit the doctor about my sleeping dilema._

But even that nice little thought didn't convince me. Something was very, very, _very_ wrong. I slammed my locker door and lugged my gym bag off to class.

I just made it into the gymnasium when the late bell rung. Rounding the corner to sit on the bleachers next to Tamaki and Kyoya who had not taken gym their freshamn year either, I saw a head of ebony bobbling around in a group of what Silent Hallows High considered "The Populars".

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Tamaki put down the hand held mirror he had been admiring himself in to fix me with a confused stare. "Uh, s-sorry?"

"_Him_." I jabbed a finger at the _thing_ that was currently laughing at something that a buff Puerto Rican jock had said.

Tamaki's violet eyes brightened as he sat up straighter. "Oh, yeah! Everyone was so right! You guys look so much alike! It's uncanny!"

I grumbled and plopped down next to him. Kyoya leaned forward to eye me unsurely.

"Kaoru, are you sure you don't have a bro-"

"Don't you dare say the word," I hissed, making Tamaki scoot closer to Kyoya and cower in fear, "I'm positive."

Kyoya stared at me for another moment before slowly nodding his head and turning away to look at my photocopy on the other side of the gym. "You must understand why I would ask."

"Yeah. I know. We look alike. But that doesn't _mean_ anything."

"You don't like him, I'm guessing?" Tamaki shoved his mirror back into his gym bag.

"No."

"Oh. You've talked to him, then?"

"No."

"Then how can you-"

"Let's just drop it, okay?"

The blonde bit his lip, looking a bit taken aback. "O-okay."

"I believe your sour mood is about to get worse." Kyoya pushed his glasses up his nose, staring at a point on the other side of the room.

I followed his gaze and almost bolted from the room. There, strutting his stuff like it was nobody's buisness, was Hikaru Parker making his way towards us.

"Uh oh," Tamaki breathed.

That was an understatement.

He stopped a couple feet away from us, smiling broadly. "Hey."

"Hello."

"Hiya!"

His grin didn't even twitch at my cold, silent response. "I'm Hikaru." He held out a hand for me to shake.

"I know. I was there when Mrs. Wetherly introduced you." Instead of taking the hand, I glared at it.

Still the smile stayed plastered on his face. He let the extended arm fall back to his side.

"You're Kaoru." It obviously wasn't a question.

I narrowed my eyes at him, expecting him to flinch away or become nervous. "How did you know my name?"

"People have been calling me that all day. And unless we have a triplet in this school, I'm pretty sure Kaoru is you."

The sudden feeling of stupidity made my face heat up. I guess I should have probably already known that. "Oh."

"Yeah." Still smiling like a fool, he turned to my friends. "These are your friends I assume."

"Yep!" Tamaki chimed. "I'm Tamaki Suoh and this is Kyoya Ootori! It's nice to meet you!"

Hikaru nodded seeming slightly annoyed by his chipperness. "Same. So-"

"Why did you come over here?"

I could tell I had caught him off guard with my icy question and smiled when I saw that bright grin turn into a confused frown for a second before it was back. "To talk to you, of course. What, aren't I allowed to talk to my look-a-like?"

"Not if your look-a-like doesn't want you to."

"Um, sorry? I don't think I quite understand. What did I do?"

I felt that odd rage seeping back into me like water dripping into the roots of a flower. He doesn't know what he's _done_? He comes sashaying up to, intervening in my conversation and he doesn't know what he's _done_? . . . Well I don't know what he's done either, but when I figure it out you better _believe_ that I won't hesitate to tell him what's up!

"It doesn't matter! The point is, I don't want to talk to you."

He opened his mouth to say something back and for a moment there, I thought I saw a flash of anger in his features that he was struggling to keep under control. But Coach Strifer had called attention to the class to quiet down so he could take a head count.

Flustered, Hikaru looked back at me with his eyes narrowed. "We'll talk later, yeah? I think we should. And don't worry, whether you want to or not right now, I know we're going to end up being great friends."

And with that he turned on his heel and slinked back to his new friends. Once he returned to The Popular Bench, I looked to my friend's and waved my arms frantically in his direction.

"Um, hello? Does anyone else find that a little odd?!"

"What? He just wants to be friends . . . And he seems pretty well liked already. It's only his first day and he's hanging out with the popular people. I don't see what you're all in a huff about."

"_Well liked_? Those kids over there are jerks! So shouldn't that say something about him? You support me, right, Kyoya?"

He ran a hand through his pitch black hair and sighed. "I'm going to have to go with Kaoru on this one, Tamaki. Something's off."

My heart lept with joy at his response. Knowing that I wasn't alone in my suspicions made me feel a little more reassured about my mental stability. Maybe I wouldn't have to visit the men in white after all!

After attendance, we headed back to the locker rooms to change. I could hear bits and pieces of the conversation Hikaru was having with one of The Populars.

"I bet this ain't nothing compared to New York. Probably more to do. And hotter girls, right?" The guy, I think his name was Wessley, grinned stupidly.

"Yeah, I guess so. But girls there are more willing to give out, you know? Girls here seem more hard to get. It'll be a nice challenge for me. Especially if the girl has another guy after her. I love competition." Hikaru gave that signature smirk I was coming to know well.

"The chase is always fun," Wessley agreed with a nod,"But sometimes you just need to get what you want when you want it."

"Oh, I always get what I want. No matter what it takes." He sneaked a glance over his shoulder at me. I scowled back and he turned his head forward again. If I didn't know any better, I would say that his shoulders had been shaking with silent laughter.

"Got your eyes on any girl, New York?"

"Well . . . there is one."

"Who's that?"

"Petite girl, long dark hair, big eyes. I believe her name is Haruhi?"

I sucked in a breath, stopping in my tracks and losing my grip on my bag. My head whipped towards Kyoya and Tamaki who didn't appear to have heard anything as they were absorbed in their plans for the weekend. How did they not hear that? He said it so loudly! For everyone to hear! As her love interest, you would think Tamaki would be alerted to his crush's name being spoken! He should be reaming that guy out by now! I swear, if looks could kill, Hikaru would be lying on the floor as nothing more than a bloody mess.

He didn't honestly think he had a shot with her, did he? She didn't _look _like his type. His type would be some bleach blonde bimbo standing on the corner of Main street in fish nets. Not innocent, modest Haruhi. And with Tamaki being the object of her affection, he'd be lucky to get her to look at him twice.

"Kaoru? What're you doing?"

I snapped back from my thoughts to see Tamaki standing in the doorway of the locker room with a concerned frown.

"Nothing, nothing. I'm comin'."

_And there you have it. Hika has his sights set on Haru! Oh, what will become of that?!;) I wish I could have made this chapter longer but *yawn* I'm getting too tired to keep going. So sorry:/ I'll try to get another chapter up within the next 24 hours but no promises!_

_REVIEW!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Here be chapter six in all it's glory! *snorts* Now I'm just exaggerating._

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Okay, so I was honestly starting to wonder if I was a paranoid freak.

For the rest of they day, Hikaru didn't talk to me or even look at me once since our strange encounter in gym class. I found that I had the same lunch with him, he past right by my table as he walked to sit next to his new friends, completely and totally oblivious to my presence. I watched him laugh and smirk as the jocks and their girlfriends cracked jokes.

"I swear, this school is so stereotypical." I thought out loud.

"Whatddya mean?" Hunny asked around a mouthful of carrot cake he had brought from home.

"I mean, it's like we're on some bad sit com. The jocks and the cheerleaders are just as cruel and fake as the ones you see on TV."

As he finished swallowing his hunk of cake, Hunny considered this. "I suppose so. But what made you suddenly make that observation?"

"I don't know." I poked my green Jell-O with my spoon, my mouth set into a deep frown, "I was just thinking about it."

"Are you all wound up over that new boy, Hikaru?"

I looked up to see Hunny appraising me with his wide, surprisingly wise, brown eyes. "You know, Kao, I think you should get to know him. I really do. There's something more to this, why he looks like you. Haru told me you don't like him much, though." He wiped his finger across the top of the cake, getting a good sized glob of icing.

"It's not like you to judge someone before speaking to them." Mori stated.

I shifted uncomftorably in my seat. I couldn't explain it to Haruhi, Kyoya (though, I think he understood the most), or Tamaki so why would this attempt be anymore successful? Then again, this was Mori and Hunny. They were different from the rest of the group. There was always a comforting, warm atmosphere around them. It's wonderful but also, in a way, deadly. It's not good to come around them with a problem because you might end up spilling more than you want to. But I _wanted_ to talk about it. Sort of. And while I couldn't discuss this with the others, these two would at least make an effort to understand. "I can't explain it right. It's weird . . . and a bit nonsensical."

"Do the best you can, Kao." Hunny gave me a small encouraging smile.

"It's just that . . . I get this weird vibe, you know? No, you probably don't know. Anyway, his dad is substituting for Mrs. Jones for a few weeks and he's a little . . . strange to say the least."

Hunny nodded vigorously. "The man we saw this morning at the teacher's lounge! Yes, I can see why you would put it that way. He sure did stare at you weirdly, but that's only probably because you and Hikaru are like twins."

Internally, I flinched at that. I really didn't want anyone to say it that way. It implied that I almost had some sort of relation to him and that was . . . entirely unwanted.

"Yeah, but there was something else to his stare . . . like . . . God, this sounds crazy, but it was like-"

"Want."

The hard word, barely spoken, made a silent little bubble around our table. I turned to the stoic man.

"Want." I tested the word out. "That's a good word for it . . ." We locked gazes for a moment. But his face was as impassive as always.

Hunny looked from me to his quiet cousin while he absent mindedly traced patterns into the white cremey top of his beloved cake. His elfish face scrunched up in thought and stayed uncharacteristically silent for the rest of lunch. You know shit gets serious when Hunny puts on his deep in thought face.

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.

Luckily, I had had no other classes with Hikaru. And the day went on just as boring and uneventful as it usually did. Loads of homework, a lecture about my failure to show up to class on time that went through one ear and out the other, a quiz in history that I was 99.9% sure I had failed, and then finally it was time to go home. I walked out with Haruhi, deep into conversation about next week's camping trip when I felt something solid hit my shoulder.

With an immediate scowl arranged on my face, my eyes darted around to find the culprit who had so rudely pushed past me. "Hey, I'm _walking_ here if you couldn't tell-"

My complaint fell unfinished as Hikaru smirked at me. "Sorry. Didn't see you there."

"Yeah, I bet you didn't." I grumbled.

His eyes slid to Haruhi for a brief second before he was gone, engulfed by a pack of anxious teens rushing to their cars.

"And you think he's nice." I snorted, dodging a rain puddle as we pressed on through the crowd.

"I never said he was nice," she stated in her usual ruthlessly blunt fashion, "And I wouldn't be nice to you either if you'd been glaring at me for no reason, except that you're caught up in one of your little fictional fantasies."

I bit my tounge. It was no use getting into an arguement with her, I'd never win. But, seriously, she made me sound like such a whackjob. Since lunch, I'd been pretty reassured that I was right about Hikaru and _Matt_. What teacher insists on being called by their first name, anyway? Isn't that a bit _unprofessional_? But back to the point. Haruhi's jabs at my sanity were really starting to make me doubt my better judgement. So I just tried to keep in mind that Mori and Kyoya were on my side and Hunny was at least considering it. If others noticed, then, I can't be all that mad, can I?

"Kaoru? Hey, Kaoru!" Kyoya's annoyed voice drug me out of my innerconflict.

"Uh, whaa . . .?"

"Do you want a ride home or not?"

"Nah, I'm good. I'll just walk."

"You sure? Looks like it's gonna rain again." Mei sat perched on the hood of Kyoya's car, applying another layer of lip gloss to her already sticky lips.

"Yeah. The exercise will do me some good." In all honesty I just wanted some time to think to myself and taking a walk was a perfect way to do just that, beside, my house wasn't all that far away. I'd be home in about twenty maybe thirty minutes tops. Plus, I didn't want to be stuck in a confined space with the ever judgemental Haruhi. I, being the mature person that I was, had decided to give her the silent treatmant for a while. Not that she would care. She was cold like that.

"Whatever. But if you catch sick, don't say nobody warned ya."

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I was about halfway home when I felt it. I had been thinking about the whole twin thing and, well, maybe, _just maybe_, it was a possibility. After all, that's what everybody at school had been calling us. I lost count of how many people raced up to me and told me that it was so cool that I had a twin and asked why I had never mentioned Hikaru before. Their faces were priceless when I informed them that I was definately _not_ in anyway related to him. They gaped like fish out of water and mumbled out things like "impossible" and "gotta be related some how". But the funniest reaction of them all had been Renge Houshakuji's. Renge was the biggest gossiper in school and everyone knew it. She had stopped me in the hall after art, trying to get the scoop on why I had never uttered a word to anyone about my twin brother. Was it because he was a patient who recently escaped from the mental ward? Was it because we were sperated at a young age because we had fallen in love (I almost puked on her knock off louboutins)? Or maybe it was because Hikaru, the _Badass Twin,_ as she had put it, had it in for me and had come to Silent Hallows to reap his revenge? I had not so politely told her that Hikaru was not my brother and even if he was, I wouldn't be telling the biggest loud mouth in town about him and his plot for my demise or whatever load of crap she had concocted. She had choked on her gum and some gangly nerd of a senior had to give her the heimlich. I laughed my _ass_ off all the way to my locker.

But if he was my twin, wouldn't I know? Don't twins feel like, I don't know, incomplete without each other? I'd lived my life feeling pretty complete up until then. So now I was back to square one. If he wasn't my long lost brother, then what in the _hell_ was he? A coincidence? Could anyone coincidently look that much like someone else?

So lost in my thoughts, I didn't see the jagged crack that took up a whole square of sidewalk. Falling hard on my frontside, I heard a clatter around me as a dull ache started in my right knee. Feeling my face warm I looked up first to see the obnoxious in-your-face yellow cover of my notebook for French. I groaned half in pain and half because of my impatience. I had been so keen on getting out of school that I hadn't taken two seconds out of my precious time to zip my bag properly. And now as a punishment for being so thoughtless, my books, folders, and notebooks were scattered around me. The bright colors of my book covers and other stuff looked so loud on the pale, sickly white sidewalk. If anyone drove by they'd have a hard time not seeing me sprawled on the ground with miniature traffic lights surrounding me.

Lifting myself up onto my elbows, I did a quick once over to make sure no one had seen me in my moment of humiliating ineptitude. Thankfully, it seemed that I was alone. I shifted myself into a sitting position to examine the stinging pain in my knee. A sharp medium sized rock wedged into the crack shined with a splotch of my blood. Damn, and these were my favorite jeans, too. I ran my finger over the perfectly vertical rip it had made, careful not to touch the gash. It wasn't that bad at all. About an inch in length but it seemed to have gone rather deep.

Sighing, I picked myself up into a crouch and began shoving my school stuff back into my bag, reminding myself to actually close it all the way this time.

"This day freaking sucks. I should have just stayed home today. Maybe I'll do that-" My muttering immediately stopped when I felt the first warning sign. It prickled at my neck and slid into a cold chill as it slipped all the way down my spine. Goosebumps broke out across almost every inch of me. My stomach clenched up into familiar knots as I strained my ears for the footsteps I expected but it was impossible to hear anything over my own erratic heartbeat pounding in my ears.

Biting my lip to the point of breaking skin, I willed myself to turn around. To face whoever it was or _whatever_ it was. My breath kicked up a notch and I slowly moved my hand to grasp the rock that had stabbed me in the leg. Giving it two good tugs, it loosened from it's spot and in a split second decision, I whipped around with the rock pointed up in defense. Eyes darting around wildly, I searched for it. For what was following. For what _had _been following me while I was too caught up in my thoughts to take notice.

Nothing was there. Not visibly.

But I could still _feel_ it.

I could feel eyes watching me with an amused glint. Watching me hold up a stupid rock to defend myself.

_What're you going to do? Stab me in the shin?_

I gasped and dropped my pitiful weapon. Stumbling back a bit, I grasped at a small dead looking tree planted next to the sidewalk to right myself. My head swiveled in all directions in search of the voice. Spinning around a couple times, I finally came to the conclusion no one had been behind me, beside me, or, even though it was stupid, above me.

"Who's there?" I was caught off guard by my own voice and jumped back against the tree.

Silence. An erie silence in which nothing was heard except the chirping of birds in the surrounding pine trees and the quiet rustling of leaves as fall blew through the otherwise still air.

I tried to appear as calm as possible as my hands fumbled for the rest of my things. Not even picking the wet leaves off of the rest of my textbooks, I slung the bag over my shoulder and began to jog out of the more isolated part of town. It was where the town park and multiple ponds were placed for fishing. And for dead bodies to be thrown into.

_Oh, come on! Why did I have to go and have that thought?!_

After what seemed like forever, my heart gave a sputter of relief as I rounded the last bend where the pine trees disolved into cornfields and little houses decked out with Halloween spirit. I couldn't bring myself to stop running, though. My house was only about five more minutes. I could make it! And eventually, much to my great surprise, I did. I was never very athletic so it was honestly shocking I made it without passing out or breaking something. And I only fell down five times!

I ignored the stares of Mr. and Mrs. Gomez, our little old neighbors, as I staggered up the porch stairs. I typed in the security code as quickly and as carefully as I could to successfully deactivate the alarm. Once inside the security of my own home, I slammed the door shut with an echoing bang and turned the alarm back on. I slid down the door with my bag still tightly clutched in my sweaty hands, my breath came hard and fast. My mouth felt like sandpaper and my stomach was giving lurches that made me feel beyond queasy.

I decided I should get up after ten minutes of almost throwing up on the floor. I slid my bag away from me towards the coat closet and shakily gave it my best go at standing up. My legs burned like hell and after looking down I realized that all of the jolty, uncoordinated movement had made my cut bleed more. The whole knee of my pants was now stained red. I brushed my hand over the still wet cloth, completely confused. It was just a little cut, how did it bleed that much? I limped into the dinningroom, turning the light settings to the brightest possible and flopped into a chair, propping my leg up on the one next to me, I began to tear at the fabric to get a better look.

Under the dim light of the pine trees, I apparently hadn't gotten the best glance at my wound. It was bigger than I initially thought and even deeper. The sight of it made the contents of my stomach churn again. Wrinkling my nose, I got up trying to make this as less painful as possible for my banged up and bloody knee. My desired place being the bathroom so I could get that thing cleaned up before I got some sort of infection that made puss come out of the scratch for weeks. I yelped when the phone began to demand my attention by making it's shrill rings.

"Man up, Kaoru," I mumbled as I headed for the downstairs bathroom. I figured I could just let it go to voicemail. If it was anything important, then they'd leave a message. I was about to cross the threshold of the bathroom as the beep sounded and for a brief pause no one said a thing on the other line. And then my day got worse.

"Hey, Kaoru." I froze with eyes wide and back stiff. Nasty gash forgotten as I turned to stare at the source of his voice with nothing short of dread.

"Uh, it's Hikaru. I just wanted to talk to you but I guess your cell phone is off and I suppose you aren't answering this phone either. Unless you're one of those people who let all calls go straight to voicemail and you're listening to me right now, thinking "What a weirdo." But who am I to assume things? You probably haven't gotten home yet. Anyway, don't think I'm a creep or anything. Haruhi gave me your numbers out in the parkinglot when you left. I wanted to offer you a ride but my dad said that you'd probably turn it down." I could hear a hidden chuckle in his smooth voice. "I had to agree with him. So, yeah, I think we just really need to talk. Call me back when you get this." What, did I not have a choice? He gave me his cell phone number, his home phone number and even his dad's cell phone number. Jeez, desperate much?

"Although, I'm not holding my breath on this one." He laughed. I wish he would hold his breath. "Just keep in mind that you can't avoid me forever. I don't give up easily. Well, since I know you most likely won't call me back, I'll see you at school tomorrow!"

Kill me now.

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_Hm. How weird. So far you live a pretty unfortunate life, Kaoru._

_Kaoru: Thanks . . ._

_Hikaru: He needs me to spice it up!_

_And that you will, Hikaru, that you will._


	7. Chapter 7

I sighed as I stirred the eggs around in the frying pan. I felt unrested and discomforted by, well, everything. I wasn't even really that hungry as I wasn't that big on breakfast. Despite what people said about it being the 'most important meal of the day' or whatever. Pfft, bitch I eat when ever I damn well please, screw the time of day! But cooking gave me something to do. So now I stood in front of the stove at five thirty in the morning, making scrambled eggs and trying not to think about how shitty of a day this was going to be.

_I should stay home today. Even if it's only one day, I'll take it. One day of stalling mine and Hikaru's inevitable talk_. _Yeah, I'll just text Kyoya and tell him not to come get me because I'm sick!_

Kyoya would know right away that I was being a filthy little liar to get out of going to school and getting bombarded by more twin related questions. And if there was one thing Kyoya didn't like-Okay, he dislikes many things but you get what I'm saying-it was a liar and a coward. . . Well, alright, that's two things. How 'bout this; he really doesn't care for a liar but he hates them even more when they act like a coward. Does that work? So in other words, he would drag me out of this house kicking and screaming if he had to. Security alarm be damned, Kyoya had broken into my house without so much as the creaking of a floorboard before and he would certainly do it again.

Tipping my eggs onto a plate, I gave a humorless laugh, thinking about how confident I had been after the call compared to now. I went from orchestrating the perfect speech I would give when he sauntered up to me in my head while I scrubbed the already spotless hallway floor roughly (I clean when I'm angry) to now pathetically grasping for ways to get out of seeing him. I had even devoted my whole day to imagining how it would all happen. After his message had ended, I had cleaned my wound as gently as possible and then changed into sweats. I then collected my handy sponge, bucket, and cleaning fluids to sanitize every crook and crevice of the many already meticulous and sterile rooms in the entire house.

And, yeah, I actually called it my handy sponge.

After I had dedirtified the house (but there wasn't much dirt thanks to my immaculate up keeping) I had drowsily curled up in my bed. Not too long after I had begun nodding off, deciding that I would take a break from my thoughts with a cat nap, my cell phone began to chime with a call. I debated in my head for a second whether I should bother picking it up. It could be another _unwanted _call from an _unwanted _person. Or it could be Tamaki in need of help getting his head out from between the supporters of the railing on his staircase at home again.

I crawled grudgingly out of my warm bed to my desk across the room. I felt a small pool of dread in my stomach after seeing the caller ID. Normally, I would hold off on answering this call up until they started leaving voice mails that threatened to alert the authorities to my unresponsiveness. But I figured it was best to get the pointless conversation out-of-the-way.

"Hey." I said flatly into the receiver.

"Oh, Kaoru! I'm glad you picked up! I thought I'd have to call Mrs. Gerald and tell her to go make sure you were alive again!" My mother's breathy voice enthused.

"No need. What's up?" I plopped in my spinny computer chair and began to twirl around as fast as I could to see how nauseated I could get myself.

She was quiet for a minute before she seemed to force out an suspiciously casual reply. "Just wanted to see if you were doing okay."

I stopped my spinning. I squinted against my swimming vision as all the colors of my room began to blend in with each other. I didn't think I had spun that much, had I? Though, my head was still fuddled and dizzy so maybe I just imagined her answer. After all, she never called just to see if I was 'doing okay'. She called to tell me when her and dad would be getting in from their flights and when to water the plants, but other than that there was no communication between us.

Once I was able to see the fine print on a bottle of eye drops again, I managed to stutter something out. "Wh-what?"

"I said I was checking on you to see if you're doing okay." She repeated.

So it wasn't the spinning! I really _had _heard her say that! So unlike her, unlike her to tell me (well maybe not straight out) that she cares. My mother and I had never had the best relationship. Well, I guess I should say I had never had a good relationship with either of my parents but especially her. Our relationship in a nutshell was this; I mouth off, she gets drunk and screams at me, she wakes up the next morning with a powerful hang over, I sass her some more and finally she screams at me again until I finally leave the house or the cops are called for a noise disturbance by the neighbors.

" . . . I think I'm misunderstanding. I keep thinking that I hear you saying something that gives way to caring . . . but that can't be right."

I could practically hear her rolling her heavily make up coated eyes. "Don't act like a little bitch about it. Is it so wrong for a mother to worry about her son?"

I began to spin again, using the edge of my desk to push myself faster. "You never worry about me. The only thing you ever worry about is how you're going to get your fix when it's after midnight and they won't sell you any alcohol."

It's true. I had been on many alcohol hunts with her late at night after she had drunk away her stash that evening. You'd think she would get the picture the first time we went to the store and the worker said they couldn't sell any after midnight because they didn't have a liquor license, but she just seemed determined to find a place that would sell her all the Stupid in a Bottle that she and I could march through the store with in our arms.

I heard her give a soft groan on the other line. "I knew I was wasting my breath making this call. You always complain about how I don't care about you and then when I actually take time out of the day to pick up my phone and check in with you, you get an attitude. Either you want me to care or you don't. Take your pick."

I looked over at my bed with longing and made an irritated noise into the phone. "It shouldn't have to be anyone's choice. You should just love me."

"Well, you make that a really hard thing to do." She snapped.

"This is a useless conversation. I'm hanging up now."

I was about to press the end button when she called out. "Wait! I'm sorry. I didn't . . ." She heaved a deep sigh. Her voice suddenly sounded so old and tired. "Kaoru . . . I don't mean it when I say stuff like that. Let's just move on, okay? Um, how was school?"

I paused, biting my lip. Why did she want to know? And if she was honestly curious, would it be all right to mention Hikaru? Could she give me any insight into the matter of why we were duplicates? If he was in fact my twin, I really didn't want to mention it yet. I wasn't even sure if we were and it would just be too weird of a conversation.

"Fine, uh, Hunny's dad is taking us all on a camping trip next weekend . . .Oh, and Tamaki got hit in the head with a softball again in gym. He's got a bruise on his left cheek and thinks Haruhi will beat the crap out of the guy who threw it at him. But to be honest, I don't see her taking on a huge mammoth of a football player." It felt so strange to actually be telling her a little about my day. It kinda felt . . . good.

My mom snorted. "That sounds just like him. I swear, a post is smarter than that boy."

I managed a small smile. "He's alright."

"So speaking of Haruhi, how is she? How're you two getting on? Leaving Splitsville and heading towards Couple's Town yet?"

I played with my fingers absent-mindedly while I tried to think of a way to get that Haruhi and I would never get back together through her head. She had utterly adored my ex-girlfriend. When I was dating her, my mother had actually started treating me like I was worth something to her. She said that getting in a relationship with such a smart and pretty girl was the best thing I had ever done and that I should hang onto her because I probably would never get a girl like her again. Or another girl at all. She was always so supportive of my happiness.

"Mom, we're not getting back together. You don't need a crystal ball to see that. Besides, she loves someone else."

"Who?"

"Tamaki."

"I always hated that boy."

"No you didn't! You loved him because he always brought over home-made cookies and told you that you were pretty!"

" . . . The cookies weren't even that good."

"Mom!" I yelled in aggravation.

"Okay. So I can't hate him. But I like him a little less now. Can't believe it. Loving him over you." She muttered.

"What do you mean? I expected you to say that she's better off with him because he's above me in every way."

" . . . Kao-"

"It doesn't matter. I shouldn't have said anything. We were having a nice conversation and I ruined it. I ruined it like I ruin everything else."

"Hun, you don't ruin anything." She said in the softest voice she had ever used with me.

Was this some sort of trick? Why was she being so _nice_? Where's the "I'll be home soon to look at your snide, ungrateful face in a few days! Water the Ficus, dumbass!"? Where was that? Instead she calls me _hun_? What is this shit?!

"You tell me that I ruined your life, like, all the time." I reminded her of those good ol' days. The ones where she said that and then drank a whole bottle of tequila in under a minute.

"I'm working on that. I don't mean the things I say to you . . . I just . . ." Another deep sigh, "There's no excuse for the cruelty, I know. I've- I've recently had a talk with a therapist."

I sat there in silence for a moment, waiting for her to elaborate and not too sure whether she wanted my opinion or not.

"Oh?"

"Anything else?"

"No . . . I mean, I don't really get what you're trying to say. So, yeah, just 'Oh?'"

"Your father talked me into seeing one. He said it would be good for us all."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we're all going to go into therapy. Your father scheduled _your _appointment a few hours ago actually . . ."

". . ."

"I know you're upset. You didn't give us your consent to sign you up and what teenager wants to give up their time to go talk to someone about their life? I get it-"

"No. I don't think you do _get it_. I don't need to go to a therapist. You're the crazy one not me."

"You don't have to be crazy to see a therapist."

"I'm not going. You guys aren't here to make me go so I won't."

I jumped as my father's deep voice suddenly came over the line. "Linda will see to it that you attend all of your sessions. You _are_ going."

"Why?!"

"We've had problems for a while now . . . Our family isn't functional. It's taken a toll on all of us. There's-"

"It'll be no use!" I protested, "How're we supposed to get anywhere with _sperate _therapy? You do know about _family _counseling, don't you?"

My mother took another turn at convincing me. "I think it would be best for us to talk to someone separately first and then try that once we've worked up enough to speak our minds about the situation in front of each other. Besides, it would be impossible to do that for a while with our work schedules."

I ground my teeth together while I thought this over. Therapy . . . I wasn't seeing the point of me going. _They _were the ones with the problems. I just sat through it. And occasionally snickered at it.

"Kaoru? Please don't have hung up."

If she hadn't sounded close to tears, I would have kept silent. But even though she was so infuriating, she was still the woman who gave me life. I'm not _that _cold of a person.

"I just don't get why I have to go! I didn't do anything!"

"We're trying to change the way things have been working. We're trying to step up and break this behavior within the-"

I let a cold laugh slip out, shaking my head. "You're sixteen years too late. I don't care to become any kind of family with you. And you know what? Sure, I'll go to your stupid appointments, but Linda can't make me talk about it."

I pressed end before they could say another word and flung the phone across the room. It hit the wall with a loud thud but much to my disappointment didn't break.

_Fuck, I could have made them buy me a new one! An even flashier more expensive one._

I climbed back into bed. Turning this way and that to no avail. I was too damn angry to sleep now! Thanks therapy!

And here I was now glaring at a plate of hot, freshly made breakfast. My appointment, as my mom had texted to me a couple of hours after our little chat, was today at exactly four. Linda Gerald the fat cat lady who was often my mom's drinking buddy when she was actually home would be taking me to Dr. Watts's office. Just the thought of that _beast_ made me want to throw up. Mrs. Gerald was always chatty and smelled a little like mushroom soup. She used to try to have conversations with me until one time in the grocery store she saw me making an ice cream run with Haruhi and told my best friend, in great detail, mind you, how when I was little, I would whip it out and kill all of her flower beds by peeing on them. I blew up on her and called her a few names that I hadn't even ever called Tamaki. And that's saying quite a bit because I had called him a lot of things.

I picked up the phone that had left a new dent in my wall as of last night and searched through my contacts until I found the number I wanted.

On the third ring, a sleepy voice answered. "Hello?"

"Do you want some eggs?"

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Tamaki sat in the chair straight across from me, eating happily the eggs I had made. I swear the boy ran here after I had mentioned food. The eggs had barely even cooled before he had skipped through the door still in his pajamas and made himself comfortable in my diningroom.

"Do you have any milk?"

"Yeah." I moved to the cupboard to get a glass and popped the fridge open for the milk.

"Not that I don't enjoy having breakfast made for me but, uh, why didn't you eat this yourself?"

"I don't like breakfast but I was bored and cooking was a way to occupy myself. And I couldn't let it go to waste. It wouldn't feel right when there's so many starving people out there." I handed him the cold glass which he began to immediately chug.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I took my seat once again. "Were the eggs dry or something?"

"Oh no! They're delicious! I'm just always really thirsty in the morning."

"Ah."

We lapsed back into silence as he continued eating. I traced the patterns in the table with my pointer finger. My mind wandered to the incident of yesterday. The strange paranoid feeling, knowing whatever that thing was had gotten it's kicks off my reaction, and . . . the voice. That voice that had spoken . . . or had not spoken? It had been too hard to tell if it had been in my head or not. And the voice was a familiar one but then it wasn't. Like I knew it but there was a veil over it, a thin veil that every time I visited the memory in my mind I was about to yank away but then it just became thicker and more out of reach.

_What're you going to do? Stab me in the shin?_

That's what it had said. So sarcastic and taunting. Like not only did _it _want to scare me it also wanted to annoy me.

_Or maybe I'm hearing voices like a crazy. Maybe mom and dad were in the right deciding to put me in therapy._

"Well, I'm done." I jumped as Tamaki let his fork hit the plate. "Thanks for breakfast!" He stood up, taking his plate to the sink.

"You don't have to do that," I said as he turned on the sink, "I'll get to it later."

"It's fine! I don't mind!" He began humming quietly while he squirted dish soap onto a sponge and began scrubbing.

I cocked my head to the side, listening to the little tune. "New song?"

He laughed quietly, rinsing the soap off of the plate. "Yeah. I wrote it . . . for Haruhi."

Tamaki loved to play the piano. I could tell it made him really happy when somebody requested him to play. And he was practically over the moon when we asked him to play a piece that he had made. But he rarely wrote a piece for anyone except his mom. I figured Haruhi must mean quite a lot to him for that to happen.

After he had dried the plate and shoved it back in the cupboard he turned to me with a sigh, leaning against the sink. "Kaoru . . . I'm actually kind of glad that you called me here. There's something I want to talk to you about."

I eyed him wearily, feeling more than slightly worried. It was very uncommon for Tamaki to sound so serious. "What's that, Tama?"

"Well, it's just that . . . I would feel really bad if I didn't ask you first because I know how hard it was for you afterwards . . . B-but I was just wondering if it would be alright if I could ask Haruhi . . . on a date?"

I stared at him with my mouth open. He was asking for my _permission_? Oh God. This guy really _was_ better than me! No wonder Haruhi had it so bad for him. Trying to hide my now wounded self-esteem, I forced a small smile.

"Of course it's okay. You know you didn't need to ask."

"I wanted to. I didn't want it to be awkward between us if it wasn't fine with you."

I couldn't help but feel a little touched that Tamaki would take my feelings into consideration too. I shouldn't have been surprised; he was a very selfless person.

"Well, thank you for being so considerate. And it's completely fine by me if you ask her out. You two are good together."

His face lit up with the same smile he flashed whenever someone asked him to play his beloved piano. In that moment I realized something. Looking into his violet eyes, I could see how deep his love was for her. Even deeper than my own. In the very depths, I could see his willingness to do anything for her. In that moment I realized how much they belonged together. I had already known that her and I would never get back together but it was like seeing his feelings for her finalized it.

A rush of blonde hair blocked my vision and my connection into his feelings was broke. "No thank _you_, Kaoru!" I heard him saying but I was hardly even aware of the arms that had enveloped me, "I can't _wait _to ask her! I'm gonna do it today!"

He pulled back and did a little happy dance that only Tamaki could pull off as being normal. I felt a fake smile tug the corners of my mouth up "Goodluck."

"I have to go home and get ready for school now! I'll see you in a bit!"

And with that, he danced right out the door.

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When we got to the school, I saw Hikaru Parker leaning up against Brent Michael's (jerky quarter back) army green jeep, smiling and chatting away with a group of kids. I couldn't have been more grateful to get out of the car. Tamaki had been making gooey eyes at a confused and flushed Haruhi the whole time which only ripped my already aching heart even more into broken little fragments. Soon the remains of it would probably just shrivel up and fall into my stomach or something.

"You okay, Kao?" Mei asked, adjusting the front of her shirt so that it showed what I'm guessing she considered to be the right amount of cleavage.

I nodded glumly and shuffled off to the front doors.

"Morning, sunshine." chirped a voice in my ear.

"Go away, Hikaru."

"I'd rather not."

"I'm not in the mood."

"Maybe I can cheer you up."

"Doubt it. If anything, you'll just put me in a worse mood."

"What's the matter?"

I finally stopped walking and turned to face him. I glared at the top of his head. "A beanie, really? Copying me much?"

He smirked. "Hey, I happen to like beanies!"

"And?" I raised an eyebrow.

"_And _I knew it would annoy you." He admitted, his smirk growing into a wide smile, "Mission accomplished."

Narrowing my eyes, I began walking again.

"Wait! I said I wanted to talk to you."

"Yeah, I got your voicemail but did I ever say I wanted to listen?"

"No, but I wish you would."

I felt a hand wrap around my thin wrist. "C'mon. Let's go somewhere we can talk. Please."

I sighed deeply, looking across the parking lot at my friends who were still gathered around Kyoya's car. Tamaki and Haruhi were grinning like idiots at one another as the other snuck suspicious glances at them, probably already suspecting something was going on. And I certainly didn't want to be there when Haruhi walked into class, wanting to spread the news that he had finally asked her out.

I licked my bottom lip and adjusted my heavy bag. "Where to?"

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_What am I doing here? _I wondered as I examined my surroundings. I was sitting in the very back of a quaint little cafe about two towns over. Hikaru had gotten up, saying he needed to use the restroom. But something told me it was a test to see if I would make a break for it the second he left the table. While all my instincts told me that was a smart thing to do, I ignored them and continued to sit there like a lost duckling.

"Here you are," the waitress smiled down at me and handed me my chai tea also setting Hikaru's cup of black coffee in front of his vacant seat, "Just call me over if you need anything else." She flipped a lock of short dark purple hair out of her face and scurried over to her other customers who looked quite irritated with her slow service.

I sipped at my tea lightly, scrunching my face up when it burned the roof of my mouth.

"You're such a dork. It's supposed to cool first."

With wide eyes I looked back up to see Hikaru giving me his signature smirk, propping his chin up with his hand.

"How did you do that?"

"Excuse me?" He asked, looking politely baffled.

"You weren't there a second ago and now you are."

He chuckled, leaning back in his red velvet chair. "It's not my fault you have a short attention span."

"Whatever. What do you want from me?"

"Just to talk."

"About?"

"Stuff."

"_Stuff_? What _stuff_?

"Anything." He said simply.

"Anything?"

"Okay, yeah, we're getting nowhere with this round about. How can I say this in a way that you might actually understand?" He pursed his lips, cupping his styrofoam cup in his hands.

I scowled. "If you're going to be a jerk-"

Two dark eyebrows that matched his dyed hair shot up. "If _I'm _being a jerk? What have you been to me so far?"

I opened my mouth and closed it again. There was really nothing I could use to argue with that. I huffed and took another sip of my tea which was now a little bit cooler, in case you wondered, as an excuse to think of a retort.

"Speaking of which, why is it that you've been a jerk to me exactly?"

I could I say? "You just seem like a real butt. I don't like you."? I don't really think that would go over well.

"Any reason at all? Or are you just mad because I stole your face?" He teased.

I shrugged, trying to hide the small smile that formed on my lips. "I guess so."

"When's your birthday?" he asked abruptly.

"Uh . . . why?"

He gave me a look that said it should be fairly obvious why he would ask such a question. It took a second for me to grasp what he meant.

"Oh . . ." I fidgeted with my hands under the table, feeling a bubble of nervousness in my stomach.

"So? When is it?" he leaned forward slightly, looking almost as anxious as I felt.

"Well, uh . . ." I gulped. I guess this was the moment of truth. If we had the same birthday, then we have an answer to both of our questions. I couldn't even bring myself to catch his eye to watch his expression, "June ninth."

"Wow." I heard him breath.

Slowly, I lifted my head to stare into identical golden orbs. "What?" I whispered.

"That's my birthday, too."

" . . . That's not a funny joke."

"I'm not joking. Why would I?"

" . . . So we're . . . twins?"

"Well, yeah. That or this is a really weird coincidence."

"And the chances of that are pretty slim." I felt something warm and wet slide down my fingers. My hand was shaking terribly, making the tea spill out from either side. I set it down quickly and wiped my hand on my jeans.

Suddenly a huge mischievous smile spread over his face. I gasped as he stood up, already knowing what he was about to do. Ah, twin telepathy maybe? "Hikaru, no-"

"Guess what everybody!" he shouted, catching the curious attention of the whole cafe, "We just found out we're brothers! Twins! After sixteen years we finally found each other!" He pulled a very red-faced me into a tight hug. I hid my head in his shoulder as I heard a chorus of 'Aw' from the watching crowd and a few wolf whistles from the purple haired waitress and her friends behind the counter.

I felt his breath on my ear as he laughed, seeming to get his jollies out of embarrassing me. "This will prove to be a very interesting year, don't you think, brother?"

I could only groan in response.

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_Foop! There ya go! Chapter 7! Maybe Kao will start actually talking to his brother!_


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